Red Tinted Lavender
by shinigami-shane
Summary: Hinata was kidnapped when she was just a child and saved by Akatsuki.


Four ninja were rushing through the forest in the dead of night. One of them said, "I can't believe that we got away with this!"

"Yeah, you 'n' me both, Shiro" the other male subordinate said.

"The pair of you, shut up," the lone kunoichi said, still uncomfortable with the mission that they'd been given.

The one in charge sighed and said, "I know that this one didn't sit well with you, Murasaki, but it is the mission that we were given, as such we are duty-bound to complete it."

Murasaki sighed and said, "I know, but taking impromptu missions from a paper-pusher is just…" she sighed again.

"Ah, buck up," the first one said. "Soon we'll be back home and there'll be nothing to worry about anymore."

"Can it, Kuromidori. I'm not interested in being bombarded by your bluster tonight!"

"What do you mean 'bluster'?! I-"

The one that had yet to utter even a single word since they'd left the hidden village with the package said, "Kuromidori. She's right. Stop talking and we'll be back home quicker."

Kuromidori heaved a sigh and regretfully said, "Hai, Kin'iro-taichō."

After another two hours of silent travel, they crossed the border of the land of fire into the Land of Forests and heaved a sigh of relief as, from that point onwards, whoever had been assigned to chase them down, would need to deal with getting permission to cross into another nation to carry out a mission that would only benefit Konoha. They knew that it wouldn't hold them up for too long though, so kept on travelling at the same rapid speed. It was only when they were halfway through the Valley Country that they ran into a problem. A _very_ big problem in the form of two people that were also travelling through the trees. The problem that they had though, was that the two people were wearing black robes with red clouds that were outlined in white. Kin'iro frowned as he said, "You pair are from Akatsuki, aren't you?" as they all stopped.

"That's right," a blue-haired woman that had an origami flower in her hair said. "And you would be?" as she looked at her red-haired partner, noticing the bag slung over one of the shinobi's shoulders. Nagato almost imperceptibly nodded at her. Konan continued on to say, "Well, I suppose that in the end it doesn't really matter, does it?" and spread her arms, causing sheets of paper to rush forward and bind all of the shinobi in place, leaving their entire bodies covered except for their noses to let them breathe, not wanting to incur too much trouble with the Land of Lightning. Konan then removed the papers covering the kunoichi's face, having sensed some conflict in her body language and expression. She said, "Alright, you. Tell me what's going on," as Nagato went over and retrieved the sack.

The kunoichi said, "We were assigned to take _her_ back to the Land of Lightning by Ambassador Koshiniro, though I thought that it was the epitome of foolishness, kidnapping the Hyūga heir during peace negotiations."

Konan sighed and said, "Very well then," and covered the noses of the male shinobi, suffocating them. Konan said, "Those papers will release you in around two hours. Go back to your village and inform your Raikage what happened. Hopefully that will prevent him from acting as opportunistically as he has in the past."

"What about you, and _her_?"

"You needn't concern yourself with that."

Murasaki sighed and said, "I guess not. Just…I know that I don't have the right to do this, but could you make sure that she makes her way back to Konoha somehow?"

"I'm not sure how much this will mean to you, but you can have our word that we will try."

Murasaki smiled and said, "You seem to almost…have a sense of honour to you that is missing in my colleagues. So I _will_ trust you."

Konan and Nagato nodded as they headed towards the coast of the Valley Country, planning to cut across the sea to the Mountain Country. When they reached the coast though, the Hyūga heir within the sack clearly woke up and started to kick and flail about on Nagato's back. He was forced to take it off of his back and lay it down. Then Konan took over. She said, "If you calm down I'll open the bag up for you so that you can get out."

The Hyūga heir stopped moving and meekly asked, "Really?" in a high-pitched, soft, but clearly female tone.

Konan said, "Yes," as she opened the bag, revealing the blue haired heiress. Konan smiled in what she hoped was a calming manner and asked, "Is that better?"

The Heiress let out, "eep!" and started pushing back away from the blue haired woman that was clearly a kunoichi.

Konan said, "Calm down, we're not going to hurt you."

The Heiress said, "But…you kidnapped me…so…how can I…believe that?"

Konan sighed and said, "That wasn't us. We saved you from those shinobi from Kumogakure."

"Can you…prove that?"

"You're cautious. That's good," Konan said. "Unfortunately, we don't have any proof to give you. _But_, I _do_ have these…" Konan produced her Amegakure hitai-ate that had a line scratched through it."

The Heiress exclaimed, "You're a…missing-nin!" and started scurrying back away from her two rescuers."

Konan sighed and said, "You are…partly correct."

The Heiress stopped moving and asked, "What…do you mean…" sensing that the woman wasn't lying.

"Well…I suppose that I coult _technically_ be considered as a missing-nin, since we did go against Hanzō of the Salamander, the previous leader of Amegakure, however that was because he was oppressing the people. After we emerged from the battle victorious, Nagato here was named as the Leader of Amegakure."

"Then…why are you…here?"

"We were finalising a trade deal with the Land of Forests and came upon the team that was taking you to Kumo. We _would_ try to get you back to Konoha ourselves right now, but because of the way that we went about overthrowing Hanzō he cut a deal with one of the Konoha elders and we're still listed as wanted in their Bingo Book, so if we did _that_ then…"

"You'd be…targeted."

"Yes. So, right now you'll need to make a really tough decision. One that you shouldn't need to, and will undoubtedly affect you for your entire life."

"What…is it?" The Heiress asked, starting to tremble in fear of whatever decision that the pretty woman could be forcing her to make.

"We could leave you here and hope that a team from Konoha will find you, or you somehow make your way back yourself, or you come with us and we'll make _sure_ that you _can_ get back yourself. However, _that _option will be far more difficult than you can probably imagine right now, as well as take a _lot_ longer than the other two."

The Heiress said, "I don't…like any of them…but…I think that…I would likely end up…kidnapped again…or…de…dea…dead…if I…tried to…get back by…myself…and there…is no…guaren…tee that…Konoha…will have…a team…in the…area…so…" The Heiress gulped. "…there...is no…choice to make."

Konan smiled kindly and said, "I'm sorry, but you are right. So, right now we are about to cross over the ocean. I doubt that, even with the byakugan, you are able to walk on water already, so there's another decision to make."

"Al…ready?"

Nagato smiled. Konan said, "Yes. do you want to go back in that sack, or ride on one of our backs?"

"I think that…I would like…to go on yours."

"Why mine?"

"Because…" The Heiress said as she pointed at the redhead with Konan. "He's scary."

Konan smiled as Nagato hung his head and said, "He might look that way, but he's a real softy once you get to know him," as she knelt down, looking away from The Heiress so that she could clamber onto her back. When The Heiress was holding onto her tightly, Konan said, "Come on Nagato, time to go." Nagato nodded and ran across the water, slower than he normally would to keep up with Konan, who was slower due to the girl on her back. It was still far faster than Hinata had ever gone herself and marvelled at the speed that they passed over the waves and started to laugh as they were forced to run up the side of the waves that were getting larger than she'd ever imagined the ones in the books that her mother read to her. As she thought of her mother, tears started to roll down The Heiress' cheeks. Konan felt something wet coming onto her neck and looked back to see the tears. She asked, "What's wrong?"

"I am…just thinking…of mother…and…and…" The Heiress sniffed.

Konan sighed and said, "You may not believe this, but I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"We were both…separated from our parents far too early, so we can understand your tears…and tell you to treasure them for as long as you can."

"Treasure…them?" The Heiress asked, cocking her head as the tears somehow stopped coming.

"Sorrow can be both a blessing, and a curse. It can consume you and take you over, leading to your destruction and the inability to reach any of your goals, or become a bastion, and spur you to never let what caused those tears to happen ever again. Ultimately, what happens will depend not on any skill that we may teach you, or that you gain on your own, but on the strength of your will."

"My…will?"

"It can be many things, however there is time enough to think on that, after we get home for now, it's probably better that you try to sleep, if you can." The Heiress nodded and closed her eyes as she laid her head on Konan's shoulder. When she saw the smirk on Nagato, Konan pointedly said, "Don't even," to which Nagato raised his hands, as if to say that he wasn't thinking of anything of the sort that he had been.

When Hinata woke up, she was in a strange room that she'd never seen before. It was rather sparse, which she was used to, having only a bed, a dresser, a wardrobe and a chest at the end of the bed, along with some unused hooks on the walls, and a wall-mounted coat rack. She let out a shriek, causing Konan to rush in to see the heiress huddled into the corner of the room, trembling. Konan sighed and said, "Calm down. I'm not going to have to do this _every _morning, am I?"

Hinata let out a calming breath and said, "Who…are you?"

"I'm Konan. We met last night, remember?"

Hinata had a flashback of the previous night, when she'd met Konan and her friend. She said, "I…remember."

"Do you remember that you decided that you would come with us and stay here for a time?" The heiress nodded. "Alright. So, first things first. What's your name?"

"My…name?"

"Yes. You know mine, and Nagato's, but we don't know yours just yet. All we _do _know is you're your kidnappers told us that you were the heir to the Hyūga clan, but other than that…well, you're pretty much a mystery to us."

"Oh. I see. Then…my name…is…Hyūg…ga…Hyūga Hinata-desu."

"Alright then, Hinata-chan, I will need to know a few things before we begin your training. Alright?"

"It…depends on the…question."

"Fair enough. First things first, can you activate your Byakugan?"

"No. Not yet."

"I see. Alright then, have you started training in your family's style of combat?"

"Yes. But not for very long."

"I see," Konan said, frowning. "Do you know the method of activating your dōjutsu?"

"No. That training…would have…started soon."

"I see. Then have you ever seen anyone from your clan activate theirs in front of you?"

"No."

Konan sighed. she said, "Alright, then in that case, we can forget that for now then. In any case, we don't have anyone that knows how your clan's Jūken works anyway, so we couldn't train you in that form of taijutsu. If you can think of a similar martial art that would fairly easily transfer over, please tell us."

"I am…unaware of…any taijutsu styles…other than…the Hyūga's."

Konan sighed and said, "Well then we'll just have to go off what we know then and have you work out the kinks. In the meantime though, we can certainly work on your control over your chakra, and start teaching you some ninjutsu."

"Nin…jutsu?"

"Yes. is there a problem?"

"The…Hyūga…prides itself on…its mastery of taijutsu. Ninjutsu is seen as…largely unnecessary."

Konan sighed and said, "Maybe so, but _we_ aren't Hyūga, and trust me, if you do walk the path of the shinobi, you will come across situations that taijutsu alone just won't be enough to get you through whatever situation you've landed yourself in. That's why most jōnin learn how to utilise various methods of combat."

"I…see."

Konan said, "Trust me, you don't. But that doesn't really matter right now."

"Then…what does?"

Konan smiled and said, "Breakfast!" and let Hinata get off of the bed before leading her to the breakfast table.

XXXXX

At the`same time, in Kumo, Murasaki was standing in front of the Raikage, trembling as he towered over her, his rage almost palpable. He said, "Let me get this _straight_! You took the mission to kidnap the Hyūga during the middle of peace talks, because that weak-willed paper-pusher told you to, almost reached here, but failed, getting all of your team killed, with only _you_ surviving?!"

Murasaki's eyes widened, her trembling completely coming to an end. She said, "Raikage-sama, that's…" as she saw something change in his eyes. The raikage was surrounded by chakra with lightning sparking around him. He disappeared from the sight of all of the shinobi in the room, except Murasaki, who was no longer there by the time that the Raikage's arm came crashing through the afterimage that was left in the wake of the space-time ninjutsu that she'd used to escape.

The Raikage boomed, "Horui, add Tanaka Kaede to the Bingo Book as an S-Class missing-nin!"

Horui said, "Hai, Raikage-sama!" and rushed off to carry out the order.

Meanwhile, after using her Kan'ippatsu Issō no Jutsu, Kaede appeared in her bedroom in front of the mark that she'd left on her wall. She desperately started rushing through her clothes, grabbing underwear and spare shinobi clothes and sealing them into a scroll before placing it into her flak vest. She then grabbed the spare weapons scrolls that she kept ready from her top drawer and sealed them all in one scroll, placing that in one of the other slots in her flak vest. She then quickly wrote out a note and sealed it in a storage seal that she'd put on the underside of the top of her dresser. She bit her lip and thought, '_I'm sorry, Takehiko. I hope that nothing happens to you because of my failure,_' and used her Kan'ippatsu Issō no Jutsu once again when she heard her fellow Kumogakure shinobi angrily banging against her door.

She reappeared in front of a tree in the Land of Fang and dropped to her knees, panting as drops of sweat started to appear all over her. She heavily said, "That…took…more than…I thought it would…" and lost consciousness.

XXXXX

In Konoha, the Shinobi Clan Council were in an uproar. It had all started when the Hyūga representative, the previous clan head, who was standing in for Hiashi, shouted, "Preposterous! How _dare_ they try to demand such a thing when it was _them_ that kidnapped my granddaughter!"

Hiruzen sighed and said, "Calm down, the lot of you. I know how you must feel about this, Dainichi."

"Then how can you agree to…"

"The Raikage has claimed that he knew nothing of the kidnapping of your granddaughter and that the idea must have come from their ambassador, Koshiniro. Of course, I have no doubt that since shinobi must have been involved in the matter, so it would have had to have The Unruly's permission to go ahead with it. However, he has claimed that the proof is that she isn't there, and I have been granted permission for some of our investigators to go and search his village for her. I've already dispatched them and we won't be making any decisions until I hear back for them, however you should prepare for the situation if they come back and they've found that the Raikage is telling the truth, or at least that there is no evidence to the contrary."

"This is lunacy! You shouldn't agree to this, even if they _do _come back with that information."

"The Raikage was talking about using this incident as an excuse to go to war with us once again! I don't need to tell _you_ the costs that that will incur in lives. With Minato and Kushina dead, our effective forces have been decimated, while they still have two jinchuriki that can control their tailed beasts, and Unruly Ai, the now fastest shinobi alive, so even with your clan and the Uchiha, it must be avoided at any cost."

Fugaku said, "Lord Hokage, if I may…"

"Go ahead, Fugaku."

"This may sound rather self-serving, but don't you think that this would be the time for you to retire and let someone else take over as Hokage?"

Hiruzen sighed and said, "And who would I name as successor that would be accepted by everyone? Jiraiya or Tsunade?"

"I _did_ say that it sounded self-serving, and highly opportunistic, but you are aware that _I_ was considered for the position of Yondaime before Minato was accepted as the preferred candidate by you and your friends on the elder council." The shinobi that were attending the council all started to mutter amongst themselves about what they were being told, and the viability of it.

Shikaku, who had just been named as Jōnin Commander, asked, "Is this true, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen let out a sigh and said, "Yes. It is. However, the current state of things between the village and the Uchiha…"

Fugaku said, "Hiruzen. The 'current state', is _because_ of the elder council and their actions in monitoring the Uchiha clan. Naming _me_ Godaime, _will_ put and end to it."

"And what of the concerns that it was an Uchiha that caused the Kyūbi to attack three years ago? How can you expect the citizens to just accept your denial and move on?"

"They don't need to do either. They can continue to have their doubts, it is only the actions and beliefs of the shinobi forces that are of concern to our clansmen which, again, can be traced back to you and your inaction against the actions of your supposed advisors." Hiruzen sighed as he saw a lot of the shinobi in the room start to come around to the idea. "By no means does this mean that I, or the Uchiha, will seek to undermine the authority of the reigning Kage, however, something _has_ to change, or the ill-will shown to us will only incite the clan to action, despite whatever I might try to do as Clan Leader. _That_ will ultimately lead to the destruction of the Uchiha and, subsequently, Konoha."

Hiruzen said, "You need to get that arrogance under control, Fugaku."

"It's not arrogance. It's taking into account all of the current information looking ahead to what it will inevitably lead to. Whether you and your advisors like it or not, with Naruto only being three years old, and without anyone to train him as he should be, which can also be laid at your feet, the Uchiha and the Hyūga clans _are_ the backbone of the shinobi forces, taking down one of them, effectively cuts almost half of the village's strength as a hidden village."

Hiruzen sighed when he saw the looks that he was getting from the clan leaders and representatives and realised that Fugaku's laying out all of his failings had effectively turned the clan council against him. He also knew that there was a very high chance that anything that he wanted to do would be voted down, despite his long service as Hokage. "So, Fugaku, if you were in my position, what would _you_ do?"

"I would send investigators to Kumogakure, not that they'd find anything anyway." He turned to Dainichi and said, "I'm sorry to have to say this Dainichi, but if Hinata _had_ made it there, they would have transplanted her eyes, killed her and disposed of her body, leaving us incapable of finding any trace of her there anyway, if she escaped on the way, her captors may have found her to be too much of a nuisance and decided that it would be better to just gouge out her eyes and dispose of the body. Or if, by some miracle, she was rescued on the way, then there would be no way of finding her anyway."

"Which only leaves the plan that I devised."

"No. We call his bluff and send both Uchiha and Hyūga investigators there with Shikaku Nara as leader."

"Who would you suggest?"

"I wouldn't know about the Hyūga, I'd need to talk to Hiashi about that, but _I_ would be sending Shisui. I would also throw Ai off by hiding the fact that I was Hokage until the investors came back by having you continue to run things as you would until that time. During which time I would have Inoichi go through the ambassador's enemies to find out what happened before sending missives to the unallied Hidden Villages informing them of the situation, and to tell them to keep out of it, while calling in our alliance with Sunagakure and tell them not to make any overt preparations until we contact them again. Doing so should take away the Raikage's allies, and his eagerness to go to war with us. That in combination with the fact that the Third Great Ninja War only ended around ten years ago, most of the villages are still recovering from their losses, will almost certainly make his shinobi second guess his decision to go to war with us."

Hiruzen sighed and said, "Well, Shikaku, what do you think?"

Shikaku sighed as he thought, 'Troublesome.' He said, "Yes. it might work."

Hiruzen said, "You see, Fugaku, he's wedged us into a situation where the only way to get out, is to give him what he wants."

Dainichi said, "You would abandon a decision of this sort to another? That is hardly an action worthy of a Hokage!"

The shinobi in the room all started chanting, "Fu-gaku! Fu-gaku! Fu-gaku!"

Hiruzen sighed and said, "You've left me little choice, Fugaku. I _hope_ you're happy about this."

"I'm not happy, Hiruzen. Frankly, I had expected that you would name someone else Minato's successor, not try to take up the hat yourself after his death," and he stood up and went down to retrieve his hat. When Hiruzen handed it to him, he stepped aside from the podium, letting the new Hokage take his place. Fugaku placed the hat on the podium addressed the Shinobi Clan Council , "Clan Leaders, and all of your representatives. Know this. I will fulfil my duties as Hokage to the best of my abilities, so long as I am able, placing no shinobi's life over another. Also, this cannot be a day for celebration, or outrage, or even mourning. It needs to be a day like any other, and you will all continue as you would have otherwise. That said, Dainichi, Hiruzen was right when he said that my plan could well fail, so I would still like you to prepare for the worst if it does." Dainichi solemnly nodded.

Fugaku continued, "Now, to continue this ruse, I will be running all official business out of my office in the Uchiha compound while Hiruzen deals with the day to day issues and mission assignments until such time as we can announce the change in leadership." He then passed the hat back to Hiruzen, who nodded and put the hat back on. "Now, the first order of business, I am going to be firing the current advisors, effective immediately and replacing them with Nara Shikarei, the previous Jōnin commander, a Hyūga to be determined by their Clan Leader and Sarutobi Hiruzen." The entire clan council gasped at him naming Hiruzen on his advisory council after everything that had just happened. "I also hereby declare ROOT officially disbanded and any member that was once a part of them will be reintegrated with the regular shinobi forces. If they, or anyone else are found undertaking activities for ROOT in the future, the will be imprisoned in Hōzuki-jō."

One of the clan leaders raised their hand. when they'd gotten permission to go ahead, they asked, "Uhhmmm…Hokage-sama."

"Yes?"

"I'm sure that I'm not the only one wondering why you have just named Hiruzen as one of your advisors, after everything that you just said."

"I see. Well, there is no doubt that, despite what he did, and what came about because of it, he has always acted in the best interests of the village, and his experience in the political circles of the nation has given him insights that I won't necessarily have, despite the politicking that goes on in here."

Yamanaka Ichiro asked, "Why are you having Hiashi choose one of your advisors? Shouldn't you be doing it?"

"No. The reason that I want a representative of the Hyūga Clan on my advisory council, is that they are nothing if not fastidious in everything they do, and are one of the only clans to have ever been able to fight on the level of the Uchiha, so they will be able to shut me down if I'm about to do something that would endanger the village. As to why I'm letting the Hyūga leader choose the advisor, they would know the abilities of their clan members better than I do, so would be able to make the best choice for the role. Now, unless there's anything else to discuss?" Fugaku asked Hiruzen. Seeing him shake his head, Fugaku turned back to the council and said, "You're all dismissed, with the exception of my new advisors and Hyūga Dainichi."

There was a chorus of, "Hai, Hokage-sama!"

When they were all gone, with the exception of the Hokage and his advisors, Dainichi asked, "What did you want us here for?"

"We've already started giving Sasuke some basic training, as have the other cIans with their children. So I want to discuss Naruto's training."

Hiruzen sighed and said, "I'm sorry Fugaku, but you can't."

"What? Why not? You _know_ how important it is for a…" Fugaku got a disgusted look to it as he said, "…jinchūriki…" His face returned to normal. "…to be fully trained."

"Yes," Hiruzen sighed. "But, even more than me, it would look like favouritism if the Hokage got involved in Naruto's training, even indirectly, and with the way that the civilians and many of the shinobi that _didn't_ know Minato view him…" Hiruzen sighed. "It can't be done without them questioning every decision that you make regarding him."

Fugaku turned to other advisor and said, "Shikarei? Do you concur?"

Shikarei sighed. She said, "Yes. though with his looks and how he reportedly acts, you probably won't be able to hide it from them for too long."

Fugaku sighed and said, "That's true enough," having heard all of the complaints, both in his role as Clan Leader _and_ as de facto leader of the Uchiha Military Police Force. In any case, at least this lets me divorce the roles of clan leader and leader of the police force."

"That's how it works?" Dainichi asked. "I had wondered why the clan leaders kept on getting put in charge of it."

"Yes. I had been trying to do it for a while so that I could focus more on getting the clan under control, but unfortunately, only the Hokage has the power to fundamentally change the makeup of the system, and had I gone to Hiruzen with this…" The three in the room with Fugaku all nodded acceptingly.

Hiruzen said, "Speaking of which…" getting their attention. When he had it, he said, "Now that you're Hokage, who will be taking those roles?"

"I'll put Ryota in as leader of the police force, and the next in line as clan leader is Itachi, but he's _way_ too young, so I'll have my sister stand in as regent until she thinks he is capable of fulfilling the role himself."

Shikarei asked, "You would leave that decision to another?"

"Of course. It's not the role of the Hokage to meddle in clan politics."

Dainichi asked, "Could you please get to why you wanted me here?"

"Yes. Of course. About this incident…"

"What about it?"

"I know I just said that it's not up to the Hokage to interfere with clan politics, but I would like for _you_ to personally oversee any plans being made."

Dainichi disparagingly said, "And would you like me to keep you in the loop as to what is going on?"

"Of course. But it's not like I'm going to have you do this on an ongoing basis. Inform someone else of this too."

"Why? It's not like you can be an effective spy when everyone knows."

"I'm not asking you to be a 'spy', or anything like it. It's just that I _know_ Hiashi and I _don't_ think that he'll be able to keep his emotions out of any decisions that are made regarding this incident."

Dainichi sighed and said, "You have a point," having found his son's lapses in decorum beyond aggravating in the past. "Very well, Hokage-dono." Fugaku smirked, understanding exactly what he was doing, and said, "Funny. Now, you're _dismissed_," making sure that the elder knew his place without having to threaten him. When Dainichi was gone, Fugaku rolled his eyes and said, "Clan elders, they're all the same." His advisors nodded along with him, having had their own issues with _multiple_ clan elders over their time in their roles.


End file.
